


Lost at Sea (Found by You)

by ofsinnersandsaints



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, basically i just wanted karen and frank investigating with each other, but make it fantasy, but now with magic, follows a lot of the same plot points as the show, mermaid karen, pirate frank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22058758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofsinnersandsaints/pseuds/ofsinnersandsaints
Summary: Karen is attempting to get Grotto off the island to safety, because once she does he'll tell her everything he knows about the magical people who have gone missing over the other past few months. The only problem with that is the pirate known as the Punisher wants Grotto as well and once his paths cross with Karen they can either work with each other, or against each other because as it turns out, they're both after the same man.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Karen Page
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29
Collections: kastlechristmas2k19





	1. Chapter 1

  
_The first law of mermaids: Do not travel above the waves, for the ocean will come for you_

“I don’t like it.”

Karen didn’t physically roll her eyes, but mentally she rolled them into the back of her head. But because Foggy was her friend, and was only concerned for her safety, she attempted to keep her exasperation out of her voice. “You don’t have to like it, you just have to accept it’s happening.”

Foggy’s eyes looked over Karen’s shoulder and she followed his gaze to the criminal underling who was standing near the platform leading up to the ship which would take both her and the criminal, a man who went by the name of Grotto, out of town.

This was the downside to living on an island; she couldn’t just throw him into a stage coach and make her way out of town and disappear into the country side. Leaving meant ships, and ships meant a storm.

Just the idea of traveling above the water made her skin feel too tight, too dry.

Adjusting the cloak on her shoulders she attempted to ignore the feeling. This was the deal she’d made, and she’d go through with it. If she got Grotto off the island he’d tell her everything he knew about the people who had gone missing from the island over the past three months.

She’d have answers.

“At least give me a hug before you go vacation with a known murderer.”

Karen complied because he was her friend, and he was the first person in a long time to worry about her. It was an odd feeling, and she wasn’t quite used to it, but she found she liked it. “If all goes well you’ll see me again in about five days.”

“About?” he asked as he released her.

“Two days there, one day to see him settled and to get the information, then two days back. But it all depends on the weather, it could take a little longer if the winds are against us.”

“If I don’t hear back from you in seven I’m sending the cavalry after you.”

“Because you know the cavalry?”

“I’ll send Matt,” Foggy answered dryly. “And he’ll talk the head of the guards into sending the cavalry.”

Karen laughed. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you soon.”

“Stay safe,” he called out to her retreating back.

“You first,” Karen quipped back, grabbing Grotto’s elbow as she caught up with him and all but pulled him towards the gang-plank.

“Boyfriend?” Grotto asked, a half a dozen implications in his tone of voice. “Sure you don’t want some private time to goodbye?”

“Shut up.”

Grotto snorted, miffed she wasn’t playing along. “Are you sure this is safe?”

“This was your idea,” she reminded him, snapping because she didn’t like helping a criminal. She didn’t like she was possibly setting him loose on another city, but she had questions and he was the closest thing to an answer she had. “And honestly, it’s probably safer for you on this ship than on the island.”

“That’s true,” he admitted as they boarded the vessel, showing the first mate their tickets. They were given a room number and Karen led him to the stateroom she’d paid for with her hard earned money. Neither of them had anything in the way of luggage, and despite his previous concerns, Grotto didn’t seem to have any problem lying down on the cot and getting comfortable.

“You know, we should push the beds together.” When Karen didn’t immediately respond he turned his head and grinned, “You know. For body heat.”

“Gross,” Karen deadpanned as she looked in her bag to make sure she had everything she needed.

“Well that’s just rude.”

She couldn’t care less what he thought about her, and pulled her bag over her shoulder. “Stay put, and stay out of trouble. I’m going to get a lay of the land.”

“You’re leaving me?” he asked, his voice squeaking in panic.

Karen turned back to him, her hand resting on the doorknob. “We’re going to shove off any moment now, and even if we weren’t, what exactly do you expect me to do if someone attacks you?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “But two people have a better chance than one.”

“Just lock the door behind me,” she instructed. “And you’ll be fine.”

As she walked down the hallway the ship lurched Beneath her and her stomach tripped over itself. She’d never been on a boat before and she was never going to get on another again as long as she lived. It felt inherently wrong to be so far above the water.

So close, but still too far.

She rested her hand against the wall and used it to steady herself as she headed to the deck, thinking it would be easier if she could at least see the water. As she stepped out into the fresh air the smell of salt filled her senses and for a moment it felt so close to home she wanted to cry.

“You okay, miss?”

Karen looked over to see one of the crew members watching her carefully. “It’s my first time sailing.”

He nodded as if understood. “Ship’s got ginger tea. You go down to the kitchen and ask the cook for some and it’ll help quite a bit. You’ll need it with the storm coming in.”

“Storm?” Karen asked, turning to look at the horizon.

“Didn’t think we were going to get one today,” he added, his voice friendly. “Sky was clear until a bit ago. Looks like we’ll run right into, going the way we’re heading.”

“The ship will hold, won’t it?”

“Aye, she’ll hold.”

Karen gave him a smile and turned back to the skyline where she could see the dark clouds in the distance and she could feel the waves rising to meet them. She gripped the railing until her knuckles were white, wondering what kind of mistake she’d made agreeing to this mad idea.

But she remembered the family and friends of the missing who were wondering what had become of their loved ones. She was the only one who was looking for them, and every risk was worth it.

She recited the names to herself, one after another, as she focused on the horizon. Half way through the list she noticed movement, a single vessel sailing ahead of the storm.

It was too far away to see the sails but she thought she saw the flash of white against black and Karen prayed they wouldn’t be boarded by pirates on top of everything else.

Frank watched as the civilian ship came closer, the adrenaline beginning to flood his senses as he talked to his first mate. “You sure about this?”

“Yeah,” Micro answered immediately from a few steps behind him. “All my sources say he’s on it. They couldn’t say where exactly, but last night he was seen with a blonde woman and she was the one who booked passage.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No idea.”

And by the tone of Micro’s voice, he couldn’t care one or way or the way. Frank didn’t particularly care either, but if the blonde woman cared about Grotto, then he’d have to contend with her trying to save or help him which could get messy quickly. “Guess we’ll find out.”

“You’re not really going to swim there, are you?” Micro asked, leaning over the balustrade. “It’s going to be cold as shit.”

“The cold is the least of my worries,” Frank pointed out as he made sure his knives and swords were holstered properly. He’d need weapons once he was onboard.

Micro snorted, “Worried about sirens leading you down into the depths to die?”

Frank didn’t comment. He’d been a sailor and a pirate for too long to mock all the things which might be hiding beneath the waves, but he’d be staying close to the surface so he shouldn’t get too close to trouble. At least not until he boarded, and then he’d be asking for it.

“Drop anchor, and I’ll swim over. If I’m not back in two hours, head back to port.”

“And the ship is mine?” Micros asked, the familiar question hopeful. He asked it every time Frank walked towards danger, and every time Frank said no.

He dived into the water without answering and winced at the chill of the water soaking through his clothes.

He swam back to the surface and studied his target before making his way across the water. It would be easy enough to board, these types of ships had built in ladders which were set into the side of the to make boarding dinghies that much easier.

Convenience, he snorted, but at what cost?

Frank took his time swimming towards the ship, conserving his energy for whatever shit he was about to get himself into.

Normally he wouldn’t put this much effort into getting a low-level piece of scum, but this particular dumbass was important because he knew what no one else did.

He knew where the Colonel was, and to Frank, that was worth everything.

Pulling himself up the ladder rungs he paused at the top, listening to what was happening on deck. Frank could hear the heavy steps of the sailors, the murmur of absent minded conversation and not much else.

Four voices, all told, and he could easily handle four people with one had behind his back.

At the sound of thunder, Frank looked over his shoulder and saw the storm which had teased at the horizon less than an hour ago was quickly gaining on him. The dark clouds were already over his own ship, likely causing Micro to panic, and it wouldn’t be long before this one was drenched in rain water.

It was going be a bitch to swim back.

Figuring it was now or never, Frank pulled himself up and over the railing and when he landed on the deck, it was with a hard thud of his boots, the last of the seawater dripping off his body.

The four men in front of him were shocked for a full second, and it was all the time he needed to get the upper hand. He released the strap of his sword and pulled it out, putting it against the neck of the nearest man. “I’m looking for someone.”

“You going to kill us?”

Frank looked at the person who asked, a grizzled old seaman with a foot long beard. “Nah, not if you tell me what I need to know. I’m looking for someone about this tall, brown hair, squirrely as fuck.”

“We don’t know the passengers,” the old man answered like he was trying to keep everyone calm. “We just man the sails.”

“Alright, this is what we’re going to do,” Frank started, stopping when a separate man to his left suddenly lunged forward. Frustrated and a little disappointed at how badly the move was done Frank flicked his wrist and swung his hand towards the attacker, and with one fluid move slid his sword into the body and out the other side.

Frank pulled the sword out, now dripping with blood, and met the eyes of the three remaining men. “Where are the passengers?”

His voice brooked no argument and the youngest of the trio pointed to the door just a few feet away and Frank was surprised to see it was slowly closing. Someone had managed to escape.

“Jump ship.”

“What?” one of the men asked, astonished.

Frank lowered his voice and used every ounce of intimidation he possessed and stared the men down. “I said, jump ship. I don’t want to have to deal with idiots sneaking up on me trying to play hero. Spend a little time in the water, and come back alive. Can’t promise your heart will keep beating otherwise.”

He didn’t wait to see if he was obeyed, but as he reached the door he heard two splashes and after a pause, a third.

With a twisted grin he pulled open the door and went to find his prey.

They weren’t getting boarded by pirates, but somehow Karen didn’t think the one man who had risen from the sea like a dark monster from the deep was any better.

The way he’d cut down the man, like it wasn’t anything at all, had been one of the most shocking things she’d ever seen because it had seemed so easy for him. Killing wasn’t a big deal for the likes of him, and he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her or Grotto to get what he wanted.

And Karen feared what he wanted was Grotto.

She’d been on deck when the man had pulled himself up and over the railing, and she’d hidden because there was no scenario in which his arrival meant good things. After he killed the man she’d made a break for it, hoping to get to Grotto and get them both hidden before more terrible things could happen.

When she arrived at their room she skidded to a stop, and was frustrated to realize Grotto hadn’t locked up behind her as she’d instructed. Opening the door, she walked to where Grotto was sleeping and shook him awake.

“Who wants you dead?”

“Huh?” he asked, groggy as his eyes tried to focus on her. “What?”

“Who wants you dead?”

“A lot people,” he shrugged, rolling over with every intention of going back to sleep.

“One of them is here.”

Grotto sat up so quickly he nearly knocked his head against Karen’s. “Who?”

“Same height as me,” Karen answered as she pulled him off the bed and forced him to stand. “Short hair, good with a sword. He killed a guy without flinching.”

“Shit, fuck, fuck.”

Karen panicked at his reaction because while Grotto was generally a coward and an ass, she’d never seen him truly terrified. But now his face was pure white, the blood having drained away. “What?”

“What sails was he flying under?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t look.” Then she remembered the ship she’d seen in the distance, “Black, I think. There was something white in the middle, but I couldn’t see what it was.”

“Fucking Punisher,” Grotto said as he reached for the door, wrenching it open and looking up and down the hallway.

Karen’s stomach dropped.

She’d heard of the Punisher, and maybe because of what she was and where she’d come from, she should have believed the rumor of a man who single handedly killed an entire crew of men but the idea had seemed outlandish even to her.

But looking at the fear on Grotto’s face was enough to make her think the stories were at least a little bit true.

“We need to get somewhere safe,” Karen was saying, pushing him out of the room and into the hall just as a stream of light appeared on the floor from the door above the stairs. As she watched, a shadow interrupted the light and created the silhouette of a man with a sword at his side.

Fear rushed through her veins, and she pushed Grotto again, not knowing where they were headed but certain they couldn’t stay where they were.

“Go!” Karen yelled and together they ran but there was an ominous and terrifying sound which echoed around them; the slow, steady steps of the Punisher following them.

But they didn’t know where they were going and eventually Karen knew they would hit a dead end, and it would be likely be deadly for them as well.

“Grotto!” the voice yelled and it sent a shiver down Karen’s spine. “Grotto, stop! You’re just going to make things worse!”

Beside her, Grotto stopped running and it took a few steps before Karen could stop herself, turning to stare at the man who was risking his life by not moving. “What are you doing?”

“He just wants answers.”

“Bullshit,” Karen hissed as the man walked closer. “He wants to kill you.”

“Come on, man,” Grotto started. “This doesn’t have to be anything. I’ll tell you whatever you want.”

“Damn right you will.”

Karen let out a sharp gasp as the Punisher reached forward and wrapped a massive hand around the back of Grotto’s neck and pulled him back towards the stairs.

“Stop!” Karen ordered, trying to put more confidence in her voice than she actually felt. “Let him go!”

The man turned, and while she couldn’t see his eyes in the shadow of the hallways, she could feel them like a weight on her chest. “I got no interest in you lady, don’t make me pay attention.”

Karen felt the words like a blow, stepping back like he’d hit her.

But she didn’t wait long before following them to the top level, and when she stepped out of the door she saw the Punisher throwing Grotto off the side of the ship.

“No!” she ran across the deck and saw the fresh blood pooling on the wood. “What have you done?”

“Took care of business,” the man replied, calming sheathing his sword and latching the leather hooks over the hilt.

She walked towards him, not sure what she was going to do but feeling violence rising in her body, but before she could get too close a dagger she hadn’t even seen him pull was pressed against her throat.

“Not a good idea.”

“You killed him.”

He leaned over a little and looked into the ocean. “Nah, he’s not dead yet. He’s bleeding, but I don’t think there’s sharks this close to the port.”

“He’ll bleed out or drown.”

The Punisher just shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him. “What happens, happens.”

And before she could come up with a reply he stepped up onto the railing and dove into the water below.

She braced her hands on the railing and her entire body shimmered with the magic inside of her.

One thought and the legs she stood on would transform into a single, shimmering tail. She could dive into the dark waters and see for a mile without a speck of light. Karen knew she could save the man in the water, but before she could shift from human to mermaid she gripped the wood of the balustrade so tightly her knuckles went white.

She’d grown up with a set of beliefs, the most revered of which was this: Merpeople don’t save anyone from drowning. If a human fell into the waters, it was up to the ocean to decide whether or not they survived. Merpeople were not interfere under any circumstances.

All she could do was watch as the man in black swam through the waves and got away.

##############################

As they docked, the ship rocked against the slip and Frank swore as he caught himself on the mast where he was standing. His signature skull sails were tucked away in a secret compartment and now a faded red sail was folded up at the top of the mast.

Secret identities weren’t just for people.

“All right slackers,” Frank hollered, projecting his voice so everyone could hear him. “Enjoy the pleasures of the island, don’t get locked up, and we’ll see you all here in a week.”

A cheer went up with from the men and women and he felt Micro move to stand next to him. “I’m not sticking around.”

“Didn’t expect you to.”

Micro continued as if Frank hadn’t spoken. “Because I haven’t seen my wife in two weeks. I haven’t seen my kids in two weeks.”

“Didn’t ask.”

“And if you think I’d rather hang out with you instead of-“

“David.” His first mate stopped at the use of his real name and glared at Frank. Micro was very insistent on keeping his family life and his criminal life separate, a line he drew by the use of his real name versus his alias. But hell, sometimes there was only way one to get him to stop talking.

“Go, enjoy your family. Say hi to Sarah and the kids.”

Micro nodded and headed off into the night, to the nice part of town where they thought David was a proper importer/exporter. Frank was fairly certain Sarah knew something wasn’t quite right, but she was smart enough not to ask any questions.

With a sigh Frank walked off the ship and thought about the course of the evenings events.

There was still a hum of adrenaline in his blood stream; the fight had been just enough to get his blood pumping but not enough to tire him out. Though the swim back to the ship had nearly done him in.

Fucking storm came out of nowhere, nearly drowned him and his crew, but damn if that woman hadn’t been something out of a storybook. All blonde hair and pale skin, like a bit lightning in the middle of a storm. He was pretty sure if he’d touched her she’d have electrocuted him, and might have even been worth it.

“Punisher.”

The voice was unfamiliar, but he recognized it just the same.

Someone else was on the docks looking to finish a fight.

When Frank turned around it was to see a man jumping down from one of the buildings, landing solidly on his feet. He was dressed in red, a leather type mask covering the top half of his face.

Frank rolled his eyes at the dramatics.

“Can I help you?” Frank asked, already knowing who it was standing in front of him. “You look lost, do need some directions?”

There was a flick of the wrists, and two red bo staffs extended from his hands and locked into place.

A fight it was.

“You have been a curse on these oceans for too long,” Daredevil bit out as he swung the bos in what Frank was sure was supposed to be a threatening manner. “It’s time someone put a stop to your violence.”

Frank adjusted his stance, prepared himself for a fight with fists up.

It was a surprisingly brutal fight; Frank could throw a heavy punch but it was hard to hit someone who moved so fast and used his environment so well. The Daredevil seemed to walk up walls and stroll through the air as he jumped.

He could feel a few good punches land against the ribs of the Daredevil, but the hard metal of the bo smacked against Frank’s temple and the world tilted. As his vision briefly went blurry the Daredevil hit again and again, Frank’s fists swinging wildly and only occasionally made contact.

 _Fuck_ , Frank thought as he began to realize he might not win this particular fight.

He’d already fought once today, and then swam the fucking ocean twice. He was too weak, too much had already been taken out of him. His vision started going black as the Daredevil continued to use his fists and bos to beat the bigger man into submission.

By the end, Frank couldn’t stop the man in red from tying him to a dock post, a sharp ringing in his ear. “You gonna kill me, Red?”

The man stopped and turned his face, and even though Frank couldn’t see his face, he could sense the offended expression on the vigilante’s face.

“No. I’m not like you.”

With a scoff, Frank shifted against the ropes, more out of habit than any real attempt to get out. He could barely see, could barely keep his head up, he couldn’t imagine having the strength to escape. “You think that makes you better? You beat the shit out of people and then throw them in the dungeons. I imagine the constant pain they go through because of broken bones and concussions is a real comfort to them in their cells. I may kill, but I only do it once. You cause pain for the rest of their lives.”

This time when the Daredevil paused, Frank could all but see something shift in him.

Frank knew when a punch landed.

“But go on, put me in jail if it makes you feel better.”

“I’m not going to do anything with you,” he said, his voice artificially low. “Your fate is to be left to the city guards and the law of the land. You’ll stand trial for what you’ve done.”

“What have I done?” Frank asked, trying to keep his voice overly casual and overly friendly.

“You’ve murdered.”

“I killed pirates,” he admitted. “Killed murderers, too. Don’t lose sleep over it.”

“You don’t get to decide to who lives and who dies. No one does.”

“Ain’t the jury going to sentence me to death? Isn’t that someone deciding who lives and who dies?”

The Daredevil growled and seemed to ignore the question. “And involving innocent civilians, people who are just trying to do some good.”

If Frank could move, he would have sat up straighter. He was talking about someone specific and Frank would bet his left arm it was the blonde from the tonight. The question was how did this man know about their interaction?

What did she mean to him?

And more importantly, what use might she have in the future?


	2. Chapter 2

__

_Do not save a drowning human, let the ocean decide_

Karen found her way to what she considered to be her bar where she quickly found Foggy already one drink in at the bar, and instead of ordering her own she picked up his tankard and finished it for him.

“Hey! I paid for that with my hard-earned money.”

“Uh-huh, and I was held up by a pirate.”

He looked disgruntled but nodded. “Fine, you win. I told Matt by the way.”

Karen nearly spit out the beer. “You what? What would possess you to tell him anything?”

“Don’t you think he would have found out either way?”

“Maybe,” Karen allowed and waived over the bar owner so she could order a round for herself and Foggy. “But Matt tends to overreact in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I did happen to catch onto that,” he nodded knowingly. “I can’t believe you survived the Punisher. It’s a miracle.”

“I don’t think it was,” Karen mused, resting her chin on her hand. “A miracle, I mean. He could have killed me, it would have been pretty easy all things considered, but for whatever reason he chose not to.”

Foggy didn’t appear to have heard her, but it had been rolling around in her mind since the ship had made port not too long ago. After surviving the Punisher the captain didn’t want to test his luck with the storm and turned right back around.

“Thank God they arrested him.”

Karen’s head whipped up, “They what?”

“Yeah, everyone was talking about it as I was headed in. Apparently the Daredevil guy thrashed him on the dock, and then the guards came by and took him in.”

She’d seen the Daredevil fight and he was probably the only person she could think of who could actually take on the Punisher. “What are they going to do to him?”

“I imagine hang him.”

“Foggy!”

“What?” he looked surprised at her. “He killed a lot of people.”

“He’s been accused of killing a lot of people,” Karen corrected, though she couldn’t understand why she was defending the man who had held a knife to her throat. “There’s no proof.”

“You’re proof.”

“Huh?”

“You saw him kill Grotto.”

Karen shook her head. “No, I didn’t see him kill Grotto. I saw him throw Grotto overboard. Those are two very different things.”

“He was bleeding.”

“So was the Punisher-“

“Frank Castle.”

“Huh?”

“Apparently that’s his people name.”

_Frank Castle._

It was strange for him have a name when he’d been a specter for so long, something dark which hunted the seas looking for blood and death.

 _Frank_.

Frank with the hard as ice cheekbones and eyes so dark she hadn’t been able to see their color even when he’d been inches from her. Frank who had worn black with red dripping from his sword.

“What were you saying?”

Karen pulled her attention back to her friend. “Huh?”

“You said ‘so was the Punisher’ and then I interrupted you.’

“Oh, I was just saying the Punisher jumped into the ocean bleeding and he apparently made it back to shore.”

“He had a ship,” Foggy pointed out.

“Unless Grotto’s body shows up on shore, he’s still alive.” Karen picked up her tankard as soon as it was put in front of her. “I wonder if I can get to the Punisher.”

“Why the fuck would you want to get to him?”

“He talked to Grotto,” she mused. “He might have information I can use to find out who is taking the magic folk. I saw him talking to Grotto before he threw him into the water.”

“That’s incredibly dangerous, Karen.”

“He’ll be locked up,” Karen pointed out. “And there will be guards. Honestly, it’s probably one of the safest places on the island.”

“No offense, but what you just said sounds like something someone would say right before they were killed,” Foggy grumbled.

“You don’t trust me?”

“I trust you,” he answered immediately. “It’s Frank Castle I don’t trust.”

She finished her drink and hugged Foggy goodbye, grateful to have a friend who wouldn’t call the guards after hearing what she was about to do, because even though she didn’t confirm it, they both knew. As she walked through the city towards the garrison she imagined what she would say when she was face to face with the Punisher.

“Karen!”

Surprised by the voice, she turned to see Matt walking towards her, his cane making a rhythmic sound on the cobblestone. “Matt, how did you know it was me?”

He touched his nose, “You always smell like the sea. No matter how far away from the ocean you are. Are you okay?”

Karen wondered if he’d try to comfort her. Foggy had been horrified on her behalf, and after asking if she was in one piece, he’d mostly let it go. Matt hovered more, and if he got even an inkling she was scared or shaky she wouldn’t be able to get rid of him. And she needed to get rid of him. There was no way he’d approve of what she was about to do. “Foggy said he’d told you.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t,” he scolded. “You were attacked and you were, what, going to keep on going as if nothing had happened?”

“It all amounted to nothing,” Karen insisted. “The worst part was the Punisher got to Grotto before I was able to get any information from him.”

His brows lowered and she wondered if he knew how much he resembled a concerned priest when he did that. “I can’t believe you’re still on this.”

“Well, no one else is.”

“The guards-“

“Are not doing enough. They’re barely doing more than just catching the criminals the Daredevil throws at them. No one is _looking_ and Grotto was my best chance at finding a direction.”

“What are you going to do now?”

Karen was absolutely not going to tell him she was going to see Frank Castle with hopes of convincing him to help her. Instead of telling him the truth, she evaded. “I’m going to try and find someone who knew what Grotto knew. And before you try and convince me not to, I will remind you I am a grown ass woman who can decide for herself what she can and can’t do.”

He held up his hands as if in surrender. “Okay, okay. Just, please be safe.”

“Of course.” And because she didn’t want him to think she was angry she added, “I’ll see you later, Matt.”

With a nod he turned around and headed back towards the tavern, likely to meet with up Foggy. Believing she was alone, Karen headed towards the garrison where Frank Castle was likely being held.

The building was a small but imposing stone structure built on the edge of a cliff with the intent of preventing people from escaping. Karen walked around the perimeter and up to the front entrance which was unmanned this late at night.

Walking inside, there was a tired looking young man who appeared to be half asleep the desk. She pulled the magic up to her throat, and smiled at him. “I need you to let me into see Frank Castle.”

Frank had been sleeping when he heard the booted footsteps coming down the hall. Not the warden, or the guard who had been keeping watching throughout the night. If he had to guess, it was a woman.

It didn’t make any sense, but he could only think of one woman who would come looking for him in a dark, dank dungeon.

“Mr. Kastle.”

The voice was instantly familiar, because it had been less than a day since he’d last seen her. Blonde hair blowing wildly in the wind as a storm pushed in from the horizon, skirts plastered against her legs as she ran towards him.

She’d made a hell of an impression.

Opening his eyes he looked her over; she was wearing different clothes than before. A dark cloak covered her shoulders and fell to her ankles, but it was pushed back so he could see the dress beneath.

She was a pale beacon of light in the darkness of the cell and if he still had a heart, Frank thought it might have stopped at the sight of her.

“How’d you get back here?” he asked, because he was fairly certain the guard wasn’t supposed to let anyone near him, much less unaccompanied.

“Magic,” she answered, sounding sarcastic. “I need to know what you talked to Grotto about.”

“He didn’t say much.”

“What did he say?” she pressed, undeterred.

There was something about the way she stood which tugged at him; she didn’t stoop so much as her spine curved, as if she was trying to make herself less noticeable. She was easily as tall as him, and he wondered if she was trying to make herself smaller.

A shame, he thought, for someone to have bent a steel spine.

“Maybe you can tell me what you wanted to know, and I can tell you if Grotto mentioned it.”

She let out an aggravated breath, which amused him because most people were afraid of him, not annoyed. “He worked for an organization which trafficked people. I needed to know about them; who they are, where they’re located, how I can find the missing.”

“What a coincidence, those were the exact same questions I had.”

Her eyes widened slightly, but it was the only indication he’d caught her off guard. “What did he say?”

“Help me get out of here, and I’ll tell you everything he told me.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Good,” he nodded his approval and stood up to walk across the small cell and put his arms through the bars, almost touching her.

She didn’t back away.

“I help you out, you help me,” she confirmed.

He held out a hand between them, and she stared at it for a moment before shaking it once and then letting go.

That’s when he heard the jingle of metal and Frank saw she’d been holding keys in her hand, hidden by the curve of her cloak. Without a word she picked out one and turned it in the lock, allowing the cell door to swing open. “Where to?”

“We have to get past the guard,” he reminded her.

“Don’t worry about it,” she assured him. “Stay at the end of the hall until you get a chance to walk out the door.”

“You think I’m going to be able to just walk out?”

“Yes,” she answered and he saw her shoulders straighten, her spine lengthen just a little, as she turned on her heels and walked back the way she’d come.

He heard the murmur of voices and he risked peaking out to see Karen talking to the guard and she’d managed to maneuver him so his back was towards the hall. Baffled at how easy it was, he walked past Karen and right out the front door, grabbing his jacket and things which were hung near the entrance.

Thirty seconds later Karen came out into the cold evening and looked surprised to see him still standing there. “You didn’t leave.”

“I made a promise.”

She nodded, pressing her lips together as she looked around. “Where to?”

“I know a spot, it’s out of the way so we shouldn’t be spotted.”

“I would really appreciate it if you don’t murder me.”

Frank didn’t laugh, but he wanted to, only letting a corner of his mouth tilt up. “Deal.”

He led her through the streets, the rain from the storm he’d encountered earlier had finally hit the island and rain poured on them both, but at least her cloak had a hood which kept her relatively dry. He felt the cold raindrops slide down the back of his neck and into his shirt and he just wanted to be dry for a solid twenty-four hours.

Frank opened the door to a tavern which catered to the graveyard crew, selling breakfast at odd hours and kept coffee constantly brewing. It was empty save for them and a waitress.

Together they slid into a booth and she sat quietly as the waitress took their orders and then immediately came back with two mugs of piping hot coffee.

Frank drank half of it before speaking, “You were never in any danger.”

He watched her blink at him. “What?”

“The other night on the ship, with that shithead Grotto. I only hurt people who deserve it.”

She spun the mug on the table but didn’t drink out of it. “And he deserved it?”

“Yes.”

“Who decides that?” she asked, sounding genuinely curious. “You?”

“I’m the one with the sword, so yeah, it’s me.” He raised his mug to the waitress, and she came back to fill up his cup up and he barely resisted the urge to tell her to leave the pot. “What got you caught up in Grotto and people trafficking?”

She looked down for a moment before looking back at him again. “People are going missing.”

“Yeah, and?”

She rolled her eyes, and he liked the way she did it, with exasperation. It was as if she was the only person in the world with more than two thoughts to rub together, like she could see something and couldn’t understand how everyone else couldn’t see it as well.

“And no one is doing anything about because they’re magical.”

Ah, those funny little prejudices found their way to the island like the rest of the imports.

“You afraid you’ll get picked up along with the rest of them?” he asked, leaning back with his coffee. The look of shock and surprise on her face was a picture, and he soaked it up because he didn’t think there were many people in the world who could catch her off guard.

“How could you possibly know that?”

He grinned. “I’m a pirate, ma’am, you aren’t the first mermaid I’ve encountered.”

Karen was stunned and couldn’t imagine what had given her away. She’d used her magic, yes, but so little of it as to hardly be noticeable, and not in front of him. No one else had even come closing to guessing where she came from, not even her closest friends.

“How did you survive the others?” she asked, because it was an easy question compared to the others.

“I’m tough meat, not very tasty.”

Karen scoffed, but it was to cover a laugh. “Please tell me you don’t believe everything you hear.”

“That mermaids eat people? Nah,” he downed the rest of the coffee in his mug. “I’ve learned rumors are rarely ever true, especially when they’re about yourself.”

“So, you’re not the Punisher? Drowning the streets in blood?” she challenged. “I saw you throw Grotto off the ship into the water.”

“Yeah, about that. Why didn’t you save him?”

There was a heavy pause as she looked off into the middle distance. “Not allowed,” she finally answered with a shrug.

Instead of ending the conversation, she seemed to have intrigued him because he leaned forward and put his arms on the table between them. “Not allowed? Why not?”

She considered him for a minute, her eyes glancing around the room in a way which had become practiced. Karen Page was looking for the exits, her eyes touching on every person in the building. “There are… rules isn’t the right word but there’s not a better one in the English language. We’re prohibited from saving people from drowning.”

“What other rules are there?”

“We’re not supposed to travel over water,” she told him, because it was the first rule she’d thought of. The others were too big, too scary to mention to someone she had known for less than a day. Now that she thought about it, it was strange that not telling the rules wasn’t one of the rules but there was an odd kind of familiarity between her and the Punisher.

They were strangers to each other, but somehow she believed they understood each other and for her that went a long way. “When you boarded the ship, there was a storm coming.”

“That was because of you? Shit,” and he sounded impressed, which surprised Karen. Her actions had nearly capsized both vessels, and it had been terrifying enough she wasn’t sure if she’d ever try it again. “Badass.”

“It’s not something I do intentionally,” she explained because she didn’t want him to think she was more powerful than she was. “The rules say when a mer-“

“Mer? Short for merpeople?”

She nodded and started over. “The rules say when a mer travels over water, the ocean instinctively understands something is missing and attempts to reclaim it. So, a storm comes to capsize the boat and return the mer back to the sea where they belong.”

“Huh.”

Karen narrowed her eyes, “You believe me?”

“I don’t not believe you,” he said, which wasn’t exactly an answer, but she’d take it. “What happens if you save someone?”

“I don’t know. No one’s ever tried that I’m aware of.” She paused again and chewed on her lower lip. “A lot of the rules are about the soul-do this thing and you’ll lose your soul, don’t do this thing and you’ll lose your soul, so I figure it’s something along those lines.”

“Hm,” he finished the coffee and she saw him look at the empty mug and the waitress but he didn’t wave her back over. “So, you’re a mermaid, looking for the person or persons who are taking magical creatures and you were helping Grotto for information?”

“Yes. The deal was, I get him off the island and somewhere safe and in return he would tell me what he knew.” She was frustrated and pushed her own mug away, “All of which I lost when you all but killed him.”

Frank shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him one way or another, and she supposed it didn’t. It wasn’t as if his life was the one on the line. “Isn’t there some nut who is taking care of all this shit?”

“Daredevil,” Karen answered, and there was more than a little bit of contempt in her voice.

“We don’t like him?” Frank asked.

Karen waved a hand as she thought about all the rumors and stories which gone around about him. The people he’d saved, the criminals he’d caught. People he’d left hurt and mangled in his wake. “He’s fine. He just doesn’t solve the problem, he simply delays it for a while.”

“Say again?”

“He grabs the people who grab the magic-folk,” she explained. “And then he takes them to the guard who lock them up and eventually they either escape or are released and they go right back to doing what they were before.”

She looked at him pointedly and he figured he was a good enough example of the problem and its lack of a solution. Never mind she was the one who broke him out.

“Besides, they’re just grunts anyway, so even if they were to stay in jail, the people in charge would just find someone else. I want this stopped, for good. And Daredevil is too…”

“Too what,” he challenged and it was weird to feel him looking at her so intently. It wasn’t just bland interest, instead it felt like genuine curiosity. For some reason he was invested in her answer and where she would have hedged her answer in front of Matt or Foggy she didn’t feel the need in this empty dining hall.

“Forgiving,” she finally answered, the truth making it easier to breathe. “And I’m all out of forgiveness.”

He’d agreed to help her, and while Frank might make excuses to Micro - he didn’t make them to himself.

Frank wanted to see what she’d do next, what she was capable of, so after finished drinking their coffee he took her to the warehouse Grotto had told him about. As far as the lowlife knew, this was a part of the magic-creature trafficking. He hadn’t been sure what exactly it had to do with the whole plan, but he knew it was a part of it.

“What do you want from this place?” Karen asked as they stood across the street from the warehouse so they could keep an eye on it for patrols. She was leaning against the wall of a closed leatherworks shop, and he had one hand pressed against the cold stone wall next to her head.

To anyone looking, he was simply a sailor trying to woo a pretty woman back to his cabin.

He looked at her and it caught him off guard how close his face was to hers. She was leaning back which made him only made him slightly taller than her; their breath mingling between them. Lamp light gave her pale moonlight skin a soft golden glow, and when her gaze met his, a ripple of something old and vaguely familiar rippled through him.

Panicked at the feeling he looked away, “Is the reason why important?”

“Yes.”

The word was softly spoken but there was enough conviction in it to pull his gaze back to hers.

“Why do you care? I’m helping you.”

“There’s a lot of tall tales about mermaids, and I know how many of them are fabrications. And I was thinking about what you said about rumors being lies, especially when they’re about you. I’m starting to wonder how many rumors about you might not be true.”

“They’re true.”

She scoffed, half amused, and shook her head before directing her gaze at the warehouse. “You’re not a monster. I’ve met monsters, I’ve been one,” she added almost as an afterthought. “So, I know you’re not one.”

He opened his mouth to ask her more, but she pushed off the wall. “There’s a guard. Give me a couple minutes to get the keys from him.”

Frank watched her walk away, felt the uncomfortable feeling between his shoulder blades and knew she was using magic. Knew she hadn’t used it on him.

She’d wanted him to take her here, but she hadn’t taken the choice from him and she couldn’t know how much that little thing meant to him. How many people had tried to leash him? Use him like an attack dog to put down what they pointed at, but he didn’t think it had even occurred to her.

Either she’d convince him, or she’d do it herself.

And damn if it wasn’t a sexy look on a woman.

Across the street he watched the man hand over the keys and then walk away. Once he was out of sight, Frank joined Karen. “What did you tell him to do?”

“To get a drink,” Karen answered as she unlocked the front door. “Ready?”

He stopped before she could walk right into danger. “You need a weapon?”

Karen shook her head and lifted the hem of her skirt and pulled a stiletto knife out of her boot. “I’m good.”

“Let me go first,” he insisted and kicked the door open which creaked with old hinges.

The entire place was pitch black so he could barely see a few feet in front of him, but he could feel Karen a few steps behind him.

The first thing Frank saw were the rows and rows of fencing, creating eight foot tall cages.

The second thing Frank saw was the flash of a sword as it swung out towards him; instinct and muscle memory were the only things which saved him. His arm coming up instinctively so the sound of metal on metal clanged and echoed in the big room.

Frank pushed Karen back and away as he fought against the unknown assailant. He used his sword and fists as the smell of blood filled the room. Suddenly there was light in the room as more people entered the space, and Frank saw Karen use her little knife to defend herself. He hadn’t been fighting to kill, but he needed to end things quickly so Frank ran the man through till his hilt butted up against the man’s ribs. He raised his foot up and pushed the man off his blade and turned to keep fighting.

With the room lit up he could see there were people in the cages, a dozen at least. “Get them out,” Frank yelled as he slashed one man’s legs out from under him and picked up the discarded sword from the last man he’d taken out. Wielding both he moved through the small group, his eyes keeping track of Karen as she moved across the room.

Always watching Karen, even as he bled and fought and killed.

She was working her way through the cages, using the keys she’d charmed away to unlock them one by one. Karen saved lives while he took them, but this last man didn’t have the good sense to go down and Frank reached for his brutality as he dropped his sword. He ducked under the man’s reach, stepped behind him, and wrapped his hands around the jaw and twisted sharply.

From one moment to the next the guard stopped breathing as Frank dropped him to the ground and looked up to see the building empty of everyone but himself and Karen.


	3. Chapter 3

__

_Do not kiss a human first, or you will lose your soul to them_

“You killed them.”

It was a ridiculous thing to point out, with dead bodies at their feet, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

He didn’t walk towards her, but she felt as if he wanted to and was intentionally keeping his distance. It was if his presence was emanating out from him, a magic of its own. “You don’t seem scared.”

“I’m not,” she told him, because it was the honest truth. He might be dangerous, and he was certainly lethal, but she’d never felt safer than when she was within arm’s reach of him.

This time he did walk towards her, covered in blood, bruises already forming around his eye. She instinctively wanted to take a step back, but it had nothing to do with terror and everything to do with the fact she was wildly and inappropriately turned on.

Frank didn’t stop until they were close enough their clothes brushed against each other; close enough she could smell the sweat mixed with the blood as he looked her dead in the eye. “You’d be the first.”

“The first?” she repeated dumbly, because he was close enough to touch now and she’d forgotten what they were talking about.

“The first not to be scared of me.”

“I’ve seen shark attacks,” she quipped, trying to get her bearings back. “You don’t even make the list of things which scare me.”

Karen thought he might grab her, there was enough feral heat in his eyes to make her land legs weak. Instead he didn’t do anything more than move run his hands down her arm and she realized he was checking her for injuries.

As the adrenaline faded Karen began to feel a prick of pain at her side and she reluctantly pulled back and looked down at her hip and when she pushed back her cloak she saw a red stain just above her hip. “Ow.”

“Christ,” he cursed, pulling her towards one of the torches still burning on the ground. He bent at the knees so he could get a better look at what she was beginning to suspect was a deep wound in her side. “This needs to be taken care of. Now.”

“Get me to the water,” she insisted even as her vision started to blur a little. “I can heal faster in the ocean.”

He was shaking his head before she finished the sentence. “I didn’t get everyone. At least one person would have run to let the boss know what was happening and I don’t think it’s a great idea to stick you in the bay where anyone with a decent crossbow can hit you from anywhere.”

“You think they’ll recognize me?”

“Yes,” he walked away and used the dagger sheathed on his lower back to cut away the shirt of one of the dead men. “I’ve got a place not too far away, and it’s near an inlet. Is it the ocean you need or the saltwater?”

“Ocean water,” she corrected with a wince. “If you just throw salt into a pot, that doesn’t work.”

“We’ll bandage you up for now,” he decided, tearing the shirts into strip and wrapping them around her tightly. “We’ll figure out the ocean shit later.”

She grabbed his arm, the muscles tensing beneath her fingers. “No. We came here for answers. I got the people out, but I don’t know who’s behind this. I don’t know how to stop it from happening again.”

He stared at her for a moment before looking away, a heavy decision weighing on him. “I do.”

“You do what?”

“I know who’s behind this,” he answered, his voice a dark growl. “It’s what I want out of this. The fucker behind all of this? I knew him in a different lifetime, and I was hoping I’d be able to find information about him here. Maybe figure out where he is so I can kill him.”

There was a quiet gasp which escaped her mouth.

His gaze swung to meet hers, “That a deal breaker?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly because her side hurt, and the people she had helped set free had been malnourished and beaten. Likely there had been worse planned for them. “But you say someone will have warned others?’

“Yes.”

“Then we should see if there’s anything here to help us, then we get out of here before we get caught. I don’t think either of us can handle another fight tonight.”

He nodded and wrapped his big hand around her arm, leading her towards what had to be the little office in the corner. “Are you sure about this? You’re hurt pretty bad.”

“You might need to carry me the last bit, but I’ll be fine,” she assured him and hoped she wasn’t lying. “We both need answers.”

Frank helped her sit down at the desk and together they searched through the paperwork, trying to find something resembling a lead. “I suppose it would be asking too much to find a letter which says ‘Dear Bad Guy, located at this address.’”

She watched his lips quirk up in a smile. “Not likely, no.”

“Let’s just take this with us,” she said, looking at the piles of paper. “I can’t see straight anymore.”

Frank helped her take off her bag and they threw in as much as would fit then he threw it over his own shoulders. “Stand up.”

Karen did as told and felt a little wobbly, but if she could hold onto him while they walked –

And every thought in her head fell out of her ears as he scooped her up in his arms. He’d taken enough care to make sure her injury was facing away from him. “Let’s get out of here.”

Frank carried her most of the way; but she pointed out that once they got to a more populated section of the city they would be memorable. He reluctantly put her down and she leaned heavily on him as he took her to the place he stayed at when he worked on the island.

It was basically just another warehouse, only this one was set up with the essentials: a bed, kitchen, and weapons.

There was a tub, something Micro had insisted he drag into the warehouse and when Frank saw it, he got an idea. “You’ll need to take off your clothes.”

Karen turned on her heels, as much as she could, and stared at him wide eyed. “Excuse me?”

He thumbed over to a back door. “Water is five steps outside the door. I can fill up the tub and you can heal faster. You look too pale. If you were anything but magic I think you’d be dead by now.”

Frank brought in buckets of water and filled up the tub, the last time he came into the warehouse Karen was slipping into the water so he kept his gaze down. He poured in the last of the ocean water and watched as her pale white legs shifted beneath the water.

He watched as those limbs shimmered, magic heating the area like a flash fire, and when the bright light faded her long, pale legs were now a single, scaled tail in hues of pale golds and rose.

The last time he’d been awed was a lifetime ago when he held a small, screaming baby in his arms with the knowledge he had helped create it.

This feeling was different, it was like looking up during a dark night and suddenly realizing the sun was rising.

“Well, shit. I think I’ve seen everything now.”

She tried for a smile but it was interrupted by a gasp and a groan of pain. Frank stepped forward, and muscle memory from a life he’d left long ago urged him to reach out as he stood beside the tub. “What do you need?”

“It hurts,” she hissed out, her hands curving around the metal of the bathtub. “Fuck, it hurts.”

Frank knelt down next to the tub, prying her fingers away and gripping onto her hand with his. “Hold onto me, Karen. I got you.”

She huffed out a laugh, humorless, as she held on to his hand with a vice-like grip.

“What?”

“I think that’s the first time you’ve said my name.”

The truth of it hit him like a punch to the gut, but it didn’t hurt. He felt stunned. “I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you from this.”

“I appreciate it,” she got out before pulling in another ragged breath. “But I don’t need protection.”

“Your side would suggest otherwise.”

“Your face isn’t much better,” Karen pointed out. “Neither are your knuckles.”

“Hazards of the job,” because he had asked for this, had walked into this life with eyes wide open. She had just wanted to help people no one else cared about.

“Let me see what I can do about that,” she said as she pulled their intertwined hands beneath the surface of the sea water. Almost instantly his bruised and battered fingers felt better, the water warmer than it should have been and he watched as the broken skin began to knit itself back to better.

She was healing him.

“How?” he asked, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Magic,” she told him, using the same tone of voice as she’d used at the jail cell, half humor-half sarcasm.

Had that only been a few hours ago?

“Does it still hurt?”

“It’s better,” she answered with a release of breath. “I’d do your other hand and your face, but I’m tapped out for the moment.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her, his hand still holding onto hers. “Just take care of yourself.”

She nodded. “Tell me something.”

“What?”

“Anything. You guessed my biggest secret just by looking at me, but I don’t know anything about you.”

“That can’t be true. All these months I’ve been haunting the docks, and you didn’t look into me once?”

She laughed again, and this time there was less pain in the sound. As she adjusted herself in the tub he watched with fascination as the length of her tail shifted and moved in one fluid movement. “Point taken. It would have been easier if I’d known your name. But the most I could gather was you were a pirate of sorts. Deadly, merciless, but there’s a pattern I see now that I didn’t before.”

“Yeah?” he asked, pulling his eyes back to her face. There was a little more color there now and he took off his jacket so he could reach into the water to check her side. “What pattern?”

He ran his fingers along the wound and it occurred to him there wasn’t any blood in the water, but the cut was beginning to close.

“You don’t hurt innocents.”

“I told you that.”

“I know, but it wasn’t just me you meant. Why? You risk a hanging every time you set sail. What makes it worth it?”

Frank got up, shook his hand free of the water and moved over to the little kitchenette and began starting a fire so he could cook them something to eat. “I had a different life once.”

“Didn’t we all.”

Frank looked over his shoulder to see Karen sitting up, her tail pulled into the bathtub, her arms wrapped around her knees as she smiled at him. “Fair enough. For me, I was in the navy.”

“You’d look good in a uniform.”

Embarrassed he looked away and stoked the coals, until the flames caught and he could add kindling to it. “We were boarding a ship suspected of mugging, but it was an ambush. Half my men were killed.”

“I’m sorry.”

Frank turned around and leaned against the old wooden counter. “It wasn’t even the worst of it because I don’t think any of us were supposed to survive. Two months later I’m with my family, wife and two kids, and we were attacked.”

There was an ocean full of grief in his words and Karen already knew how this story was going to end, could feel her own grief and memories slipping closer to the surface. “Jesus.”

She could see his shoulders tense, understood how much weight he was carrying. “They were killed. I died a little too, woke up in a hospital and I’d lost six months.”

“Who did it?”

“You know.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. “The Colonel.”

Frank nodded. “My commanding officer. The one who led us onto the boat that day.”

“We’re after the same man.”

“We are,” he turned back to the stove and put on a kettle and the simple, domestic gesture with his bruised and bloodied knuckles was somehow endearing. “But this is dangerous, Karen. You’ve got proof enough of that on your side.”

“If I don’t fight for these people, no one will.”

“I will.”

“Frank-“

“I’m going after this son-of-a-bitch no matter what, there’s no reason for you to get hurt anymore.”

“What about you?” she asked and wished for a moment she didn’t have her tail so she could get up and walk to him. “There’s no reason for you to keep on getting hurt, Frank.”

“Hell, I’ve been hurt worse.”

“It doesn’t mean you should be hurt more.”

He nodded, but she didn’t think he believed her.

“I have a wildly inappropriate request.”

The switch in conversation was too obvious, so Karen let him evade the topic. She knew how badly it hurt to lose a loved one. “What’s that?”

“Can I touch your tail?”

She was surprised by the question, but realized she should have expected it. He’d said he’d encountered other mermaids-though she remembered he’d never explained exactly how or why that had happened- but he’d likely never seen one up this close.

Karen nodded and he moved across the concrete floor, his eyes on her rather than her tail. She tried to give off an aura of calm, but inside her chest she could feel her heart racing, her pulse a palpable rhythm against her neck.

She put her hands on the edge of the tub and shifted, the water sluicing over her scales a moment before Frank’s fingertips touched them. The sensation was nearly overwhelming, she pressed her lips together to keep a sound from escaping her mouth but her fingers dug onto the edges of the bathtub, her knuckles going white.

Frank noticed almost immediately, his eyes going to hers. “You okay?”

“It’s just… sensitive,” she answered, feeling a little breathless. “I’m not used to it.”

“When was the last time someone touched you?”

She knew what he meant, when was the last time someone had touched her mermaid form, but there was a part of her which wanted to answer – _years, a decade, it’s been forever since someone’s touched me._

“You’re the only human who has ever seen this version of me.”

His fingers dipped beneath the surface of the water and followed the lines of her tail, and Karen had never experienced a sensation quite like it. The word ‘erotic’ came to mind but she kept it safely inside as his palm slid down the length of her body.

She thought about kissing him, about him pulling him down to her and feeling those calloused hands on the rest of her body but those damn laws beat like a heart against her ribs. How many could she break before it cost her everything?

Would he be worth it?

Karen thought about risking it, but before she could do anything there was a loud pounding on the door and a voice yelling from the other side.

“Frank Castle! It’s the city guards! Open up!”

They both looked in the direction of the shout before their gazes collided with each other.

“Karen, I-“ he started, his voice cutting off as he shook his head.

“I know.”

But instead of leaving he pressed his forehead against hers and it was the most intimate thing she’d ever experienced, and the entire world seemed to condense to the single contact between them.

She’d never been particularly fond of breathing air-it was too harsh and scraped against her lungs-but if she could spend the rest of her life breathing him in, she thought she could live without her tail.

Karen wanted to hold onto him. Wild and reckless and stupid as it was, she didn’t want to let him go. “Frank, you have to go.”

He hesitated, but didn’t argue. “Karen.”

“Go on,” she whispered.

He pulled back and the way he looked at her would make losing her soul worth it. “Take care.”

Karen watched him disappear into the shadows of the warehouse and focused her magic on her tail, biting her lip so she didn’t cry out as the pain ripped her in half. Beneath the water there were pale white legs instead of a rose gold tail.

She was shaky, the energy of switching took a lot out of her, and she quickly pulled on clothes as the noise continued. Karen barely had her shirt pulled over her head when the door was kicked in, eight guards filing into the warehouse, swords drawn.

“We’re looking for Frank Castle,” the man announced.

Karen raised her hands automatically and didn’t look anywhere but at him, worried she’d glance in the direction Frank had gone and give him away. “I’m alone. It’s just me.”

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I got hurt,” she answered. “I was just patching myself up. Can I put my hands down, or are your tin soldiers going to run me through?”

The man nodded at his backup and they all began to fan out throughout the room. Karen lowered her arms and waited as the man in charged walked up to her. “Mahoney, nice to see you again.”

He glared at her, clearly not pleased, but then Karen had long since suspected ‘irritated and sleep deprived’ were Brett Mahoney’s default emotions. “We tracked Frank Castle here.”

“He was the one who patched me up,” Karen told him. “I was mugged and Frank helped me out.”

“Right.” He watched as his men cleared the space, finding no evidence of the Punisher. “Where is he?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Karen answered, but it wasn’t entirely the truth. They had both looked at the same papers, they had both seen the dock numbers and the port where a ship was anchored.

She may not know where he was, but she sure as hell knew where he was going.

Frank saw the vessel and recognized it

He didn’t recognize it as the Colonel’s, but he’d seen it in port before but had never made a connection from it to the man who had ruined his entire life.

There was a heavy feeling in his gut at the number of times he could have taken his revenge; Frank could say with certainty ignorance wasn’t bliss.

He wasn’t sure if there was anything he could do now, he hadn’t even had time to grab his sword when he left the warehouse. But there was absolutely no chance he was going to let the Colonel get away again one more time.

Moving through the shadows he inched closer to the dock and from the glow of the lamps on the ship he could see the hustle and movement suggesting they were getting ready to shove off.

“Fuck,” he muttered and in a rare moment of indecision tried to figure out what to do next. He could stowaway but there was a great chance of that going to shit very quickly, one man against an entire crew was a quick way to die bloody.

If he could cause a distraction, he might be able to get a few people back onto the dock allowing Frank to get to Schoonover and end this once and for all. He looked around to see what his options were and caught sight of two people walking from town towards the slip where the Colonel was anchored.

“Shit,” the taller shadow bit out, angry. “How fuck did this happen?”

The shorter one shrugged, “I don’t know. According to the guy it was one man, took out the whole crew.”

The figure stopped, “One man?”

“Yeah, why?”

“We need to get out of here, now.”

“We’re already getting ready to head out as soon as the tide cooperates-“

“I don’t care if we have to row the damn thing out of the bay ourselves, but we’re getting out of here in the next five minutes. Anyone not on board gets left behind. Go tell Schoonover.”

One shadow ran off but the other stayed, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his hip, and Frank recognized the stance. It was the same one he still used, even after years of being out of the navy. Shifting a little so he could see the face better Frank moved as quietly as he could and felt the entirety of his body go still at the face illuminated by the flickering light of the street lamps.

_Billy?_

Billy was supposed to be dead.

He’d been on the ship when it had been ambushed, and ever since then Frank had tried to find his friend but had come up with nothing and he’d mourned the loss of his brother the same as he’d mourned his wife and children.

Billy had been family, but the answer to how he had survived was clear as day.

Whatever Schoonover had going on, Billy was quite obviously a part of it. He’d been part of the ambush, part of the death of Frank’s family, and before he could think better of it the anger took over. He stood up out of the shadows without a weapon to his name and used the only thing he had going for him – the element of surprise.

The first punch hit with the satisfying crunch of bone and Billy stumbled back a few steps before his gaze focused. “Fuck, Frank?”

“I thought you were dead.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not.” Billy looked over his shoulder, but Frank couldn’t give a flying fuck what was happening on the ship. His anger was a narrow focus and the only thing he could see was his former friend.

His enemy.

Frank swung out again, his fist only hitting air as Billy took a step back. “Why the hell would you get mixed up in this?”

Billy’s smile was no longer the easy, devil-may-care grin Frank had known. There was an edge to it now, a little cruel and more than a little vicious. “The money was just really fucking good.”

Anger turned to fury as Frank threw two punches in quick succession, the second one landing hard enough Frank felt the pain up to his elbow but Billy was armed and after stumbling back a few steps he pulled the sword from its scabbard.

The pointed edge didn’t scare Frank; physical pain wasn’t going to do anything to him. He’d stopped hurting a long time ago.

What Frank hadn’t been expecting was the dagger at his back.

When he looked around, he was surrounded. A large man was walking down the gangplank towards him and much the same way Frank had recognized Billy’s stance, he recognized the man’s walk from years of watching it with admiration and hero worship.

Just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach.

“They told me Billy here said we needed to get away from the island as soon as possible,” Schoonover said as he walked closer, his voice calm and warm as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “And I couldn’t imagine what in the goddamn world would scare Billy, and here I find my answer. How you doing, Frank?”

In response, Frank spit at his former commanding officer’s feet. “Fuck you.”

“You haven’t changed a bit,” Schoonover laughed. “Exactly what was your plan here? Take out my whole crew?”

“He took out the guys at the warehouse,” Billy cut in.

“No shit? Well, that certainly does explain a lot, doesn’t it?” He pulled up the waistband of his pants and nodded at the men behind Frank. “Tie him up, let’s get him on the ship, we’ll take care of him at sea. It’s a shame, Frank. I would have let you go on causing problems for the navy and the other smugglers, if you’d just left me and mine alone.”

“I’m here to kill you and yours.”

“Yeah,” Schoonover sighed as he if was disappointed with how this all turned out. “I suspect you are.”


	4. Chapter 4

__

_For the right person, laws mean nothing_

It had taken Karen longer than she’d have liked to get away from the guards. In the end, Foggy had shown up at the same barracks she’d helped Frank escape from just a few hours before and helped get her out of the guard’s custody.

“What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Foggy asked, more baffled than anything else. “I think they wanted to arrest you.”

“I think they did too,” Karen admitted, pulling her cloak closer around herself. The sun was beginning to rise on the horizon, and she was seriously concerned about what trouble Frank might have gotten into over the past hour.

“I’m heading to the docks,” she told her friend. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“Look, I’m going to be absolutely no help if we get attacked by anyone bigger than a medium sized child, but I’m not going to let you go alone.”

Karen smiled because it actually made her feel better to know she wasn’t going at by herself. They walked through town to the port on the documents she and Frank had found, but there was nothing there. No ships, no people, and after calling out a few times, she was convinced there wasn’t a Frank either.

“Karen.”

She looked up and saw Foggy looking down at the stone just at the edge of the wooden dock and Karen walked over to see what he had caught his attention, her stomach dropping when she saw what the flickering streetlamps illuminated.

There was blood on the stone.

“I need a boat,” she decided, moving towards the slips to see what was available.

“What?”

“They’ve got him,” she answered without looking at Foggy. “They’ve got Frank.”

“And?”

This time she looked over her shoulder to give him a scolding look, “Foggy.”

“I don’t have a boat on me,” he informed her dryly and she could practically here the roll of his eyes. “I keep mine in my other jacket.”

Karen didn’t respond as she worked through the best course of action. She could swim to the ship if she knew where it was, but swimming above the water’s surface was infinitely slower than swimming in the deep. It would be quicker to-Karen spotted a dinghy of a sailboat and moved towards it.

“Do you even know how to use one of these?” Foggy asked as she got into it.

“Yes,” she’d watched enough sailors from the waves to understand the basics. “If Brett comes looking for me will you stall him?”

“Karen,” he started, and his entire expression was one of genuine concern. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes, Foggy, I’m sure.” She looked up at him and decided that when she came back she’d tell him everything. He was her friend, and she trusted him. “But if you don’t feel comfortable lying to the guards, I understand.”

“I won’t lie to them,” he finally said as she climbed onto the dinghy. Then he reached down and unwound the knot and held it out to her. “But I’m really good at talking in circles if it comes down to it.”

“Thank you.”

“Be safe.”

Karen left the port and for the second in as many days she was traveling above the ocean, and the storm picked up almost immediately which Karen couldn’t be more grateful for because the wind pushed across the ocean faster than she could have hoped for otherwise. Within thirty minute she could see a ship on the horizon, a shadow against the sun as dark storm clouds attempted to race her towards her destination.

Karen rolled up the sails so the sailboat wouldn’t go much farther than where it was and pulled off her clothes before diving into the ocean. She waited until she was beneath the water before shifting, knowing the magic emitted a light which might be seen by anyone on lookout.

Once below the surface she gulped water, felt the high from the oxygen and salt filling her system.

She went deep enough the light barely reached her as she swam towards the ship she suspected Frank was on and didn’t waste any time getting to it. When she thought she was close enough she broke the choppy waves, and looked up to see the storm had caught up with her and was causing the vessel to rock wildly on the swells.

When her gaze fell on the ship it was just in time to see Frank, his arms and legs tied, being pushed into the ocean.

She screamed his name, the sound impossible to hear over the crashing waves around her and the thunder above her.

Karen wasn’t sure if she’d ever swam so fast in her life, trying to get to him before he drowned. He was human, he wouldn’t last long and if the lack of oxygen didn’t get to him the pressure would.

Looking around, she saw the heavy weight of Frank sinking deeper into the depths and Karen briefly wondered if there was anyone she knew hidden in the dark.

She stretched out her tail and propelled herself through the water, counting the seconds until she made it to him. When she finally reached him he’d already stopped fighting against the water. Terrified, she wrapped her arms around his torso and began to swim them both to the surface.

When she broke through she looked down at him. “Don’t worry, you can thank me later.”

And when he didn’t say anything back she realized not only was he unconscious, he wasn’t breathing either.

Making a quick decision she started swimming towards the dinghy and used what little magic she had left after a very long day to lift him up and out of the water and into the small sailboat then climbed in after him

“Okay, Frank, you got to start breathing now.”

She held her hand over his mouth and thought of how the ocean tried to pull her back into the water when she traveled over it and she focused on that connection, thinking she could get the water to pull itself out of his lungs and back to her.

He jerked suddenly and coughed up the sea water and she nearly cried with relief.

Frank felt the sharp sting of air entering his lungs at the same time he heard someone whisper, “Thank God.”

Opening his eyes, Frank looked up to see Karen’s silhouette above him. “Fuck, did I die?”

“Almost,” she answered, tears in her eyes. “Shit, Frank, you scared the crap out of me.”

He moved to sit up and only then realized the ground he’d been laying on was moving and he looked around to see they were in a small sailboat, the waves tossing them around like a toy. “I saw the storm coming, thought it might be you, but I was hoping you weren’t quite dumb enough to try to help me.”

Her tail twitched, and it was only then he realized she was in her mermaid form. “You’re not going to dry out, are you?”

Karen laughed and adjusted next to him, sitting with her tail bent about where her knees would normally be. “Eventually, but I can breathe air, so I’ll be fine for a bit. Are you okay? You were without oxygen for a while.”

“I’m good,” he answered, rubbing a hand over his sternum. “Did you steal this?”

“I didn’t have a lot of options,” she shrugged. “I couldn’t look for you if I was under water and I don’t swim very fast on the surface. What the hell happened, Frank?”

“I got stupid,” he admitted bracing himself on the side of the boat as a large swell made his stomach drop. “They got away?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

She put her hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you’re alive. That’s a win.”

He wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t say it out loud. “I thought you weren’t supposed to save anyone,” he pointed out, the edges of his fingers brushing against her scales. “Wasn’t that one of the laws?”

There was something about her eyes which pulled him in, and after a long moment she nodded once. “It is.”

He didn’t look away, couldn’t have even if his life depended on it. “You still got your soul?”

She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I think so, yes.”

How long had it been since he’d comforted someone? Years, at least. He reached past the darkness where the last bit of his own soul was safely tucked away from anything which could hurt it. Frank pushed her hair behind her ear, his fingers trailing down the length of her neck. “But you think something is going to happen because of this?”

She leaned into the touch, closing her eyes for a moment as if she was soaking up the feeling. “The ocean demands her price, and I’ve stolen from her. I imagine the debt will be called in, sooner or later.”

“I’m not worth it.”

“You don’t even know what the cost is.”

He ran his knuckle along the curve of what he still thought of as her knee and marveled at how singular she was. Even if she didn’t have a tail, she’d still be one of a kind. “Doesn’t matter,” he finally said, pulling his eyes up to meet her gaze. “Whatever the cost, it’s too much.”

“You don’t get to decide that, Frank, I do. And I decided it was worth it.” She looked around and then back to him. “We need to get out of this storm.”

Frank nodded and pulled himself up. “I imagine we’ve both been through worse.”

“Can you handle it by yourself? I don’t think I’ve got the energy for legs right now.”

“Rest, you’ve done enough today.”

He got them both back to land by which point Karen was steady enough to get her land legs back and she dressed in her soaking wet clothes and insisted they go back to her place. In her mind, after the cops had released her with a stern warning, the last place they’d think to look for him was her home.

They stumbled into the second-floor apartment and Frank stripped off everything but his pants and then stoked the fire in her little stove in an attempt to warm up the small space.

Karen changed into a knee length shirt and stared into the middle distance for a long moment. “I’m too tired to do anything else right now. I’m not even sure if I can form a proper thought.”

“Go to sleep.”

She snorted and looked at him as if he was incredibly amusing. “You have to be just as tired as I am, Frank. You take half the bed, I’ll take the other half.”

“You sure?”

“Frank, you’ve seen more of me than any other person alive. Sharing a bed with you is almost a step back at this point.”

He laughed and walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers as Karen climbed onto the other side, and he could hear her heavy sigh as she settled on the mattress. “It’s been a really long fucking day.”

“It’s been a long fucking year,” Frank added, settling on his back. “Do you have to be anywhere any time soon?”

“Not really. I used to work for a private investigator on the side, but he died a couple of weeks ago so I don’t have a lot going on right now.”

He thought about giving his condolences, but he remembered how much he hated that after he lost his family. “You pay for rent in pirate gold?”

She turned on her side to look at him, her hands pressed together under her cheek. “Why? Worried it used to be yours?”

Frank turned his head to look at her. “Nah, I’d never hide my gold where somewhere can find it.”

“Where is your gold?” she asked, eyes glittering with humor which felt damn good after the hell they’d just been through.

“There is no way I’m telling you.”

“Fair enough,” she laughed. “Night, Frank.”

“Night, Karen.”

And for the first time in decades he fell asleep to the sound of another heartbeat beside him and as he slipped into the world of dark and quiet he could feel, just behind his ribs, his own heart begin to beat again.

Karen jerked awake at the sound of clatter and opened her eyes with a panic, thinking someone had broken into her apartment. When she sat up it wasn’t to see an intruder, but Frank Castle – aka the Punisher – cooking on her stove.

“Frank?”

He looked over his shoulder at her and the image of him shirtless a few feet away from her was almost more than her nerves could handle. “Woke up and I was starving, figured when you came back to the land of the living you’d want some grub.”

“I had food to cook?”

“Not a damn thing, I went down to the market and grabbed a couple of things.”

“And you didn’t get arrested?”

“There are about twelve people who know what the Punisher looks like,” he explained, and she realized he was cooking bacon which was enough to drag her out of bed. “No one gave a good damn about me, but it was getting to be drinking time for most of the guards, so I got back before they started to find their way to the taverns.”

“I can’t believe you can cook,” she commented as she stood next to him to see potatoes frying in the bacon grease.

She only had one plate, she never had much in the way of company, and started piling the food onto it. “I used to do it all the time, but I’m a little out of practice.”

“Well, my standards are low so don’t worry about it.”

He smiled, and it warmed her to her bones as she sat at the table which last night had almost certainly been covered in her notes of what little she knew about the missing people. She saw the papers stacked neatly on the rickety table she had beside her bed.

“So, what now?”

“You still want to be in this?”

She nodded as he took the other chair and put the plate between them. “I helped those people last night, but how many people are still lost? I can’t just give up, and besides, you need me.”

“I do?” he asked, looking amused and it finally clicked for her why it always felt so momentous when he was smiling. It looked as if he was out of practice, like feeling good was a surprise he hadn’t been ready for, and it was a victory to be the one to remind him.

“Who else is going to save you the next time you get thrown off a boat?”

“Good point. I’ll get you next time.”

“I save your life, you save mine?” she asked, nodding as she took a piece of potato from the shared plate. “I could go for that.”

Frank leaned forward, his voice all seriousness as his gaze met hers. “What exactly do you think is going to happen to you because you saved me?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, and she’d been too tired last night to think about it. But now that he’d brought it up, there was no avoiding the question. “Maybe nothing.”

“You said before, after you broke me out of the clink, that most of your laws have to do with you losing your soul. We joked about it earlier, but how would you even know if you’ve still got it?”

“I have my ways.”

“Mermaid stuff?” Frank asked as he ate as well.

Karen took a piece of bacon and chewed on it to give herself a moment. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve heard stories about people, mermaids and humans, losing their soul. They stop caring.” She met his eyes across the food he’d made, the late afternoon sunlight slowly disappearing behind the curtains. “I still care, so much it catches me off guard.”

“About the other magical folk?” he asked as if the clarification was important.

“Yes,” she agreed. “I care about them. And my best friend, Foggy, our dumb friend Matt. And you.”

He looked genuinely surprised at her adding him to the list of things she cared about. “Me?”

She wanted to reach out and touch him but something about him, about them, made her hesitate. A single touch, while they were both conscious and neither of them bleeding, would be monumental.

It would change everything.

“I just met you, Frank Castle, but I know you.” He looked like he didn’t believe her. “You’re a man of violence, but you care. Do you know what that means?”

“I’ve still got a soul?”

Karen smiled. “You’ve still got a soul, and it’s worth saving. And it’s worth caring about. So whatever comes next, we do it together, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” She got up and went around the table. “Now, there’s something I’ve wanted to do for a little while now, but you’re a dangerous man and I don’t want to catch you off guard.”

“Okay?”

“Will you stand up first?”

He did so, slowly unbending his body. Frank wasn’t much bigger she was – wider at the shoulders, his muscles denser, but he made her feel intensely safe. Looking into his eyes, it was if she’d known him for a century.

Karen framed his face with her hands and she could see in his eyes the moment he understood what was happening. “Karen…”

“There are three laws which I was told growing up were more sacred than anything,” she told him quietly, because secrets could never be told loudly. “The first: do not travel above the waves. Second: do not save a drowning human. And lastly, never kiss a human first. I’ve broken every law for you, Frank, and given the chance I’d do it all over again.”

He looked confused and Karen smiled, soaking in the moment and how everything was about to change. “But you haven’t-“

She cut him off by pressing her lips against his, his lips were chapped and warm and for a moment they were still against hers.

And then he kissed her back.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised, by he’d never imagined Karen kissing him.

He’d thought about kissing _her_ , he’d thought about it more than a dozen times in the past 24 hours.

When she’d come running at him on the ship, yelling at him for throwing Grotto overboard. There had been a brief moment of such intense lust he’d been briefly stunned by it. Then when she’d stared at him through the bars of the prison cell, looking more confident than any mermaid on land had a right to be.

And then the bath.

Beautiful and wet, her faded red hair framing her face while she looked at him with water droplets on her eyelashes.

He’d thought about kissing her then, about feeling her smooth pale skin beneath his fingertips and kissing her until he could taste her pleasure. But the damn guards had come and he’d had to run, had to leave her behind.

But she wasn’t the type of woman to be left behind, wasn’t she the type of woman to wait for him to kiss her.

At the risk of everything, and maybe it was an old fish tail meant to keep reckless women close to home, she’d kissed him anyway.

And didn’t a woman like her deserve to be kissed back?

Frank wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against him, tilting his head to kiss her back so she knew exactly how desperate she made him. Exactly how much he wanted her.

He threaded his hands through her hair, felt her own fingertips press against the muscles on his neck.

The kiss lasted for an hour, for a minute, from one sunset to the next and still he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get enough of her.

“Was it worth it?” he asked when they both needed a breath. “Kissing me? Saving me?”

“Fuck, yeah.” She laughed and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. “But I’m still pissed about Grotto.”

“Yeah, yeah. Next time I throw someone overboard I’ll check with you first.”

“Deal.”

“As much as I’d like to stay here and keep kissing you-“

“We have more important things to do,” she nodded but when she moved to walk away he kept her close.

“I wouldn’t say more important,” he assured her, trying for a smile. “I would say we have other things to do as well. First thing I want to do is talk to my friend Mirco.”

“Micro?”

“My first mate,” he answered, grabbing his shirt and putting it on. “He knows more about everything than anyone person needs to. Now that I know Billy is alive, it gives us a new avenue to work with.”

“Who is Billy?” she asked, reaching for the dress hanging from one of the hooks on the wall.

“Shit, I have a lot to catch you up on. Billy was one of my mates when I was in the navy, my best friend, the closest thing I had to a brother and I thought he died when we were ambushed on the smuggling ship. Turns out he was part of the dirty dealing and I guess he faked his death so he could keep making money.”

Realization covered her face, “He’s the reason you got caught.”

He shrugged and would beat himself up about it later, when he had time. “I lost my mind for a bit.”

She came back over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “Stop it, Frank. He was part of why you lost everything, of course you lost control. Where is Micro?”

Frank let out a sigh. “Uptown a bit, he’s got a swanky place with his family.”

“Pirate and family man?” Karen asked with a smile. “I look forward to meeting him.”

“He’s a little different, and paranoid as fuck, so if he’s a little weird around you don’t take it personally.”

“Duly noted,” Karen stepped away and finished getting dressed as he pulled on his boots. Once she was ready to go he leaned forward and kissed her. “When are you going back out?”

“When are you?” he parried.

“I don’t go back.”

He was surprised by the answer, and realized there was still a lot about her life he didn’t know about. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you the whole sordid thing later, but the short version is I can’t go back.” She looked so incredibly sad Frank wrapped his arms around her to offer what little comfort he could. He felt her arms wrap around his middle, her cheek resting on his shoulder. “You’re out of the navy and I’m out my pod. Neither one of us can go back.”

Frank pulled back a little so he could look her in the eye. “Then we go forward.”

“To Micro’s.”

He nodded. “And to answer your question, we planned to head out again in about five days. We usually spend a week out at sea and then come back for a week.”

She seemed to be thinking about something. “Well, you’re place is- I don’t know the right word for it, but you can’t go back, right?”

“It’s burned.”

Karen looked around her apartment. “Well, it’s not a lot, and I’d definitely have to get more plates, but you’re welcome to stay here next time you need a place to hide.”

“You sure?”

“Unless you snore,” she teased. “I know it’s only been a couple of days, and there’s a million reasons why we shouldn’t try. But Frank, I really want to try and make this work because for the first time in a long time I feel seen. I don’t know if that makes sense-“

“It does,” Frank interrupted her. “And yes, I’d love to come back here, and not just because I need a place to hide. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a place to call home, Karen.”

“Me too,” she admitted. “Let’s try it on for size, see how it fits?”

He nodded and wondered if he’d ever get used to just how blue her eyes, and just how good it felt to have her looking at him. “Everything you risked for me? I want you to know I’m more than willing to do the same for you.”

“This isn’t a quid pro quo, Frank.”

“I know,” he assured her. “But I want you to know you’re worth it too.”

Karen leaned forward and kissed him, drawing it out and lighting flames he thought he’d banked. “You said Micro’s got a family?”

“Two kids.”

She tilted her head and he saw the glint of amusement in her the curve of her lips. “Don’t you think that he’ll be putting his kids to bed right about now? Maybe we should talk to him the morning.”

Frank glanced at the bed and then back at Karen. “You know what, you’re right. We should definitely wait till tomorrow.”

And together they kissed their way to the bed, and as the sun finally set over the island Frank lost himself in Karen and learned how to live again.


End file.
